PRAISE FOR RUSTY FISCHER'S WRITING BOOKS:

Reviews of FREEDOM TO FREELANCE: How to Find, Get & Keep Your Next Freelance Job (Deep South Publishing, 2001):

"Freedom to Freelance . . . is a great "how to" freelance book. Rusty tells you how to find work, get the work and keep the work in a easy-to-follow way. Rusty provides first-hand knowledge as both an editor and a freelancer. His real life examples are humorous and informative."
- Cheryl McAnn, Electronic Book Reviews

"Author Rusty Fischer takes readers on a tour of freelancing the easy way. His relaxed, conversational style has a tinge of attitude, which makes this little book interesting. His knowledge of the publishing business makes it valuable."
- Andrea Chester, AbsoluteWrite.com

"If you want to be a freelance writer, then this book should be tops on your list this holiday season. Rusty Fischer, editor of the popular Buzz On series of books, has written this book for those just starting out or with relatively little experience in the field of freelance writing."
- Kimberly Ripley, Author of Freelancing Later in Life

Reviews of BOOK PROMOTION MADE EASY (Bookbooters Publishing, 2002):

"Much of this author's advice is just as powerful for selling hard copy. I've pre-sold almost 1,000 copies of HIGH VELOCITY LEADERSHIP: Lessons From The Quick & The Dead, and it doesn't even print for another 90 days. THANK YOU, Mr. Fischer!"
- Stone Payton, Author of High Velocity Leadership: Lessons from the Quick & the Dead

"This book is a good resource! It has tons of direct links to free advertising and many other helpful Websites that shows Mr. Fischer is a canny insider in this marketplace. I am grateful for the help contained in this book, and I will be kept very busy in the weeks to come utilizing everything in this book. A resource well worth purchasing!"
- Sylvia Maltzman, eBook Author

Reviews of 101 Ways to Promote Your eBook for FREE (Athina Publishing, 2001):

"They ALL work! Each and every one . . ."
- Leslie Chyten, Author of Keeper of the Flame

"The invaluable lessons I learned in this well-written book on self-promotion helped my own book sales skyrocket! They'll do the same for you . . . "
- Rob Pritts, Author of FROM CP TO CPA: One Man's Triumph Over Cerebral Palsy

GRASS ROOTS BOOK PROMOTION:

Almost 300 FREEWays to Promote Your eBooks and PODs

By Rusty Fischer

Author of Beyond the Bookstore & Book Marketing Made Easy

Copyright © 2003 Rusty Fischer

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 0-9710796-6-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2003111704

First Edition 2003

Published by Filbert Publishing, Box 326, Kandiyohi, Mn, 56251, USA. 2003 Rusty Fischer. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

GRASS ROOTS BOOK PROMOTION:

Almost 300 FREEWays to Promote Your eBooks and PODs

By Rusty Fischer

Author of Beyond the Bookstore Book Marketing Made Easy

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• ABOUT THIS BOOK

• SECTION ONE:Promoting Your eBook

• SECTION TWO:Promoting Your POD Book

• SECTION THREE:Promoting Your eBooks andPODs – Online

ABOUT THIS BOOK:

When I first self-published an eBook, and then later a Print On Demand (or POD) version of the same book, I was full of high hopes and aspirations. I had finally decided on doing that which I had always dreamed—publishing my own book, my own way—and the world was finally ready for me. Weren’t they?!?

From my collective sales that first miserable year, apparently not! Why weren’t they flocking to my ePublisher? Why weren’t my royalties enough to buy a glass of champagne, let alone a cup of coffee? What had I done wrong?

The answer: Nothing. Well, that was the answer—and the problem. I had done nothing to promote my book. Aside from telling a few friends, that is. (In fact, truth be told, if it weren’t for my mother—thanks, Mom—I wouldn’t have sold a single book that first fateful year!)

Slowly, over time, I began writing less, and marketing more. I went to the Web first, seeing as the best customers for an eBook would be those already plugged in and logged on. Surfing through thousands of informational, promotional, and educational sites, I learned a Ph.D. in grass roots marketing and promotion.

Why Grass Roots Book Promotion? Well, I didn’t have much money to spend on marketing, and therefore had to do most of it myself, or rely on new Internet pals to help me. Thus, we started from the bottom up, trading links, swapping banners, reviewing each other’s books, you name it.

I’ve come a long way since then. By now I’ve published over 20 books, some myself, some from traditional publisherslike McGraw-Hill, Frank Schaffer, and Lebhar-Friedman Books. Through it all, I’ve learned enough about self-marketing and promotion to fill two craniums, let alone mythick skull. The tips to come, nearly 300 of them in all, are the best of the best.

I hope they help, and wish you the best of luck in your own marketing efforts. Perhaps, having gathered over five years of material here for you, I will save you some time—and a few prescriptions on your computer glasses!

Enjoy . . . 

SECTION ONE:

PROMOTING YOUR E-BOOKS

 INTRODUCTION: SECTION ONE

There is nothing so daunting as promoting your own eBook. Writing it was hard enough, but getting people to buy it?! Now THAT’S tough. The 101 tips for marketing and promoting your eBook that follow were culled from several frustrating years of my own eBook promoting trials and tribulations.

Gradually, over the years, I have learned a few—but by no means all—of the secrets to this crazy eBook promotion game. I’ve chosen to share 101 of my favorites with you. I hope you enjoy them . . .

1

Choose Your ePublisher Carefully!

When you begin looking for a home for your eBook, pay close attention to the Web site on which it will be listed for sale. After all, this site will be the portal to your book. YOUR book! Customers will go through this page to get to you. If it looks amateurish or cluttered, sparse or odd, customers are likely to pick up on this fact and not go much farther.

On the other hand, if you find an ePublisher whose Web site is professionally maintained, whose editor actually reads your book and offers editorial suggestions, and whose name, or that of the publisher, appears elsewhere on the Web, chances are they’re already doing promotion for you.

Not enough, of course, but whatever promotion your publisher does on behalf of their site, or even better—your book, is one less step you have to take!

2

Read Up!

One of your first steps to promoting your own eBook is to learn from others. Successful ePublishers and eAuthors such as M. J. Rose and Angela Adair-Hoy have written wonderful books, series, and articles on the subject of self-promotion. But they’re not alone. Many ePublishers and freelance writing Web sites offer links to, or even their own articles about, eBooks and self-promotion.

Run a search engine using the keywords “eBooks” and you’ll get an idea of the amount of information there is out there for you to digest and devour. Read it carefully, take notes, and remember that this is only good advice if you bother to use it!

3

Start Before You’re Through!

Remember, this is YOUR book. Your eBook. The rules are different now. You can start promoting your eBook before it’s even through. For instance, many search engines take weeks, if not months, to actually post your link on their Web sites. Use this down time to begin posting self-promotional articles on writer’s Web sites or freelance e-zines. As soon as you’ve got a link or a Web credit, post it on one of these search engines. When the eBook comes out, you’ll already have this built-in material to post on your own Web site.

4

Build a Web Page for Your eBook!

Today it’s easier than ever to build your own Web page—for FREE! Sites like Freeservers.com (but don’t stop there, simply type in “free web pages” in a search engine for many, many more) make it a breeze to make your own Web page. For FREE!

You can use ready-made templates and just key in your own information, or build a Web page by yourself using software programs from sources as varied, and as simple to use, as AOL’s Hot Dog or Netscape Composer.

Trust me, if I can do it, anybody can! If you don’t believe me, just check out my own Web site: http://www.alikelystory.itgo.com to see for yourself. All in all, this page took me one (very) long weekend to build using Netscape Composer.

A Web page, even a (very) simple one like mine, gives you a presence on the Internet and allows you to link your site to that of your ePublisher. Think of it as your very own billboard in cyberspace!

5

Submit Your Site!

Again, just like writing an eBook isn’t enough to sell an eBook, posting a Web page isn’t enough to draw people to it. Submit your site to the major search engines you, and people like you, use every day: Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Google, Hot Bot, Excite, etc. To start, simply go to each of the sites above and find the “add a site” or “submit a URL” link. Then follow the directions to get listed!

Take advantage of keywords and place your Web site in more than one category. For instance, if your eBook is a self-help tome, place it in psychology. If it’s a How-To pamphlet on gardening, place it in gardening. But always be sure to place either one on the sites for ePublishing, freelance writing, etc. The Internet may be one of the only places where it’s a GOOD thing to spread yourself too thin!

6

Enhance Your Site!

Once you’ve built your Web page, for FREE, at one of the companies that offer FREE Web space, enhance it with clip-art, banners, and other bells and whistles—for FREE. Need some help finding where to look? Simply type in the keywords “free web graphics” or “free web art” in any major search engine and you’ll have more than enough sites to keep you busy. (Possibly for the rest of your life!)

Just remember, graphics are good, but less is more. No one wants a graphics-heavy site that takes forever to load, especially if they’re in search of the useful type of information you’ll likely be providing on your site. As a general rule, don’t put more than two graphics per Web page, especially if they’re big. Spend more time concentrating on making the site readable and valuable, than on making it catchy and flashy.

7

Chop it Up!

One of the best ways to promote an eBook is to let people see some of it first—for FREE! This is a practice as old as the hills. Best-selling authors do it all the time, serializing the first several chapters of their latest releases in women’s magazines, or often tacking on the first chapter of their upcoming book at the end of their latest paperback release. Why not follow this practice for yourself?

A good place to start is on your Web site. Now that you’ve built it, submitted it, and enhanced it, why not FILL it with several paragraphs of your book? When I started my Web site for FREEDOM TO FREELANCE, I posted the first paragraph or two of each chapter to give people an idea of my writing style, what the chapter would contain, etc. Not only did it allow me to tease readers with cliffhanger paragraph endings, but also it made me seem generous by providing casual readers with at least one or two practical tips a chapter. As a result, even casual readers who had no intention of buying my eBook (why, the nerve!) still came away with close to thirty “ready to use” tips on how to be a freelance writer.

8

Farm it Out!

Another way to share bits and pieces of your eBook with potential readers is to turn selected sections into articles that are easily digested on the Web. These “excerpts,” much longer than the two paragraph blurbs I posted on my Web site, are from 400-600 words, which is quickly becoming the industry standard for “Web words.”

Post the articles on such sites as Writingtree.com and provide links to them from your Web site. Let your ePublisher know, and perhaps she will provide links as well. For a double whammy, submit the URL for each new article to search engines as well. Naturally, your byline will say something like, “Edna Expert, author of Gardening 101, reveals how to till your soil without getting dirty.” And of course your article will end with a bang up, 50-word sales pitch for your eBook!

9

Hold a Contest on Your Web Site!

The first prize, or perhaps the first 10 prizes? Your eBook, of course. The contest should be related to your topic, natch, such as recipes for good gardening soil, or personal anecdotes about gardening, which you will then post on your Web site.

Not only will this contest draw readers to your site, but you’ll also get valuable “come back” appeal when you post the winning entries. You’ll get to give away ten copies of your eBook, but more importantly, get the e-mail addresses of hopefully a hundred or so contest entrants who are interested in your topic! This is your personal invitation to alert them to new articles you’ve written, new contests you’re judging, or better yet, your new eBook!

10

Sign (Under) the Dotted Line!

E-mail signatures are one of the easiest ways to bring home the message that you’ve just published a new eBook! Just go to the “tools” section of your e-mail provider and find the “signatures” section. Click on this and follow the steps for typing in your 25-50-word pitch for your eBook, including the URL for your Web site as well as the simple Web address for your ePublisher, such as Epublisher.com.

Use a dotted line or other simple hash marks to separate your signature from the body of your e-mail, and start attaching it to the bottom of every e-mail you send out from today on. If you can’t figure out how to do it, (I’ll admit, it took me weeks to get it right!) type your 25-50 word “signature” into a Word document, save it as “text only,” and copy and paste it into the bottom of each e-mail you send. It’s harder, but until you invest in a better e-mail provider or persuade a tech-heavy friend to school you in E-mail Signatures 101, it’s well worth the hassle!

11

Get the Message (Boards)!

There are many message boards available out there, with hundreds if not thousands of visitors every day just waiting to be informed, amused, or intrigued. Don’t disappoint them. And don’t miss out on this captive audience. First, do an Internet search for “message boards” or “discussion boards” on your favorite search engine. You’ll find a ton!

Next, narrow your search down to two categories: one group that would be appropriate for your topic, such as the gardening for beginners message board, and another group for freelance writers, writers, eBook authors, etc. Take an afternoon or evening and cruise your best bets, narrowing your list down to four or five from each group. Then start posting. Use a clever nickname that is memorable, such as “gardengal” or “gardenwriter,” and quickly wade in with both feet.

Just like e-mails, don’t forget to include your signature line on each post, and use your expert status to dispense advice on a daily basis! Not only will you find a like-minded group of individuals, but you never know who might have the time to check out the Web address in your signature line! 

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